The former part of our critic's account of the Ode, on a diftant view of Eton College, deferves attention. But mark the fequel: "The affectation of new thoughts is too apt to divert the mind from the fimple and genuine appearances of things, and ufually produces quaint and far-fetched expreflions." So, becaufe Dr. Johnfon fays, that the profpect of Eton College fuggefts nothing to Gray, which every beholder does not equally think and feel," Mr. Potter wishes to teach us that novelty is neither requifite nor ornamental in poetry. The following fentiments, in general appears juft, though we are doubtful, whether Father Thames is not invoked on too trivial an occafion: "The critic proceeds, His fupplication to Father Thames, to tell him who drives the hoop or toffes the ball, is ufelefs and puerile. Father Thames has no better means of knowing than himfelf.' Criticifm of this nature breathes a frigid air, which chills all the faculties of genius. Thefe imperfonations and addreffes to woods, mountains, and streams, Omnia quæ Phœbo quondam meditante, beatus Audiit Eurotas, jullitque ediicere lauros, give to poetry a peculiar animation, and Conftitute one of her greatest beauties; every thing hears her voice. Of that tender apostrophe of Eneas to the afhes of Troy, Iliaci cineres, et flamma extremia mcorum, fhall it be faid that they could bear no teftimony to his pious valour, and had no better means of knowing it than Dido herfelf? Shall we lop from Milton that fublime addrefs of Satan to the fun as ufelefs and puerile, becaufe the fun had no means of hearing his call? Or rather fhall we not, without regard to the oppofition of this arbitrary critic, leave the free people of Parnaffus their antient right of addrefling the kings of the floods, and other poetical fovereigns?" The following paffage is really curious: "His epithet buxom health, fays the critic (Dr. Johnfon) is not ele I gant; he feems not to understand the word. Milton thought the word at leaft not inelegant; he has ufed it twice, perhaps, in different fenfes. leave Dr. Johnfon to fettle its precife meaning with that refpectable dealer in words Dr. Adam Littleton." Here Mr. Potter, in order to bring our great lexicographer nearer his own level, wishes the world to view aim in the fame light as they would Littleton. But, pray, what is this to the purpofe? Does this vindicate Gray's ufage of buxom? But Mr. Potter thought he had an opportunity of degrading Johnfon; and with that he was contented. He really writes contents very well. We wish he would prefix his arguments to fome future edition of Gray's Odes, as they would then, perhaps, appear to more advantage, or at leaft of more fervice than they do in the present work, where they feem to contribute very little to promote enquiries into Johnfon's Lives. What he fays of Efchylus and Pindar is juft, and his obfervations are the obfervations of a scholar: "I have before faid that the Ode on Spring is in the brightest manner of Pindar; and the Hymn to Adverfity is in the true fpirit of Efchylus: this may require an explanation. The odes of the latter writer are accompaniments to his Tragic Mufe, and as they attend her through the aweful fcenes of mifery, terror, vengeance, and blood, they take their colouring from thence: they become religious inquiries into the difpenfations of the gods, or melancholy reflections on the inftability of human greatnefs, or obfcure predictions or gloomy prefages of the dreadful catastrophe of the drama: the clevated genius of the author has often given them a terrible fublimity. The English reader is now, or may be, well acquainted with this great writer; it is therefore unneceffary to extend this obfervation further. Pindar was employed in a more pleafing, at leaft in a more chearful tafk; his Mufe was courted to celebrate the victors in the public games of Greece; his Odes are feftal fongs recounting glories, conquefts, and joy; they take their co louring louring from their fubject; every thing in them is fplendid, animated, and gay; or if at any time he is led to confider adverfe fortune, or the vanity of human life, the reflection is generally fhort, he foon returns to his ufual chearfulnefs, and every thing around, like the face of Nature after a fhower, becomes more fresh, more bright, and more fmiling: his genius at the fame tine was impetuous and rapid, and carried him to the nobleft heights of the fublime. That the English reader may be enabled to form fome idea of this poet's manner, however imperfect, I have ventured to give a tranflation of one of his Odes; thofe, who are acquainted with the original, will be fenfible of the difficulty of the task." There are, however, two paffages here that deferve particular notice: "The Englith reader is now, or may be well acquainted with this great writer (Efchylus); it is, therefore, unneceffary to extend this obfervation further." Left man fhould be fo unany fortunately ignorant as to ask how he might get fo well acquainted with Efchylus, it is a pity that he did not add, from my tranflation, with the addition of fome fuitable epithet. Again, in order to give his countrymen fome idea of Pindar's manner, he tranflates an ode. This is really a prodigious inftance of kindnefs, as nobody could poffibly acquire fuch knowledge from WEST'S PINDAR. We do not think that what Mr. Potter calls "fo much for the critic's charge of confufion, nonfenfe, and impertinence," in the firft ftanza of the Progrefs of Poetry, can be confidered as an explanation. We wish he had been more perfpicuous. The paffage is too long to extract, and is, perhaps, fcarcely worthy of tranfcription. The critic who pleads for the introduction of the ancient mythology into modern poetry merits no anfwer. We must cry, with Johnfon, that criticifm difdains to chafe a fchool-boy to his common places." Mr. Potter, however, in all probability had a certain poem, called CYNTHIA, in his mind, when he wrote this defence. For there we read a speech of "Jove enthron'd," to " the fynod of the fky," in which Sol and Venus, the Graces and Cupid, the tuneful Nine, and Minerva, are ordered to confer their refpective favours on the happy Cynthia; and the event is: --Applaufe rings through the courts of heav'n; And Cynthia to the wond'ring world is giv'n. Dr. Johnfon fays, "Idalia velvet green, has fomething of cant. An epithet or metaphor drawn from nature. ennobles art; an epithet drawn from art degrades nature." On this paffage, Mr. Potter obferves, with juftice and real acutenefs, that " Dr. Johnfon will perhaps pay fome deference to the authority of the learned critic, who, comparing the ftyle of Dryden with that of Pope, fays, " Dryden's page is a natural field, rifing into inequali-. ties, and divertified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, fhaven by the feythe and levelled by the roller." There is really humour and pleafantry in this paffage. Mr. Potter, however, inquires, if the Doctor's opinion about the application of fuch epithets to natural objects be juft, what is to become of all thofe beautiful images drawn from art, with which the best writers, ancient and modern, have embellifhed nature?" As inftances in English he enumerates the gay enamelled colours of bloffoms and fruits, the embroidered vale, and the fringed banks. We have fortunately difcovered the paffages to which he alludes: "No breathing hedge-row form'd the broider d bound." If the reader is bleffed with a Job-like patience, he may perufe the whole of thefe poems, and fome others equally admirable, among which is Cynthia, in a book intituled Poems by R. Potter,' published by Wilkie. The introduction of Hyperion, who by the way, fhould be called Hyperion, cannot be defended. Part of Mr. Potter's remarks, however, on this Ode afforded us pleafure. They difplay tafte and judgement. We are not at all convinced that the poems of Offian ever "cheared the Thivering native's dull abode," whatever may be Mr. Potter's opinion. The paffages which are introduced to defend the stanza, which Dr. Johnfon tells us "founds big with Delphi, and Egean, and Iliffus, and Meander, and ballowed fountain, and folemn found," cannot be confidered as a vindication. They feem brought to the bar, to receive the fame sentence. We are rather furprized that Mr. Potter did not admit with them the eighth stanza of Lord Littleton's monody. Mr. Potter's obfervations on the concluding ftanzas of this ode fhall fpeak for themfeives, "An heavier charge is next prepared against the poet: his pofition is at laft falfe: in the time of Dante and Petrarch, from whom he derives our first school of poetry, Italy was overrun by tyrant power and coward vice; nor was our itate much better when we first borrowed the Italian arts." This could not have been faid but through a total mifconception of the poet's hiftorical deduction, which, in few words, is this-When Conftantinople fubmitted to the arms of Mahomet the Great, Athens and all Greece were enflaved by the conquering Turks; this fatal event drove many of the molt learned Greeks into Italy, where they were liberally encouraged by the Popes, and the illuftrious Houfe of Medici, under whofe patronage literature and the fine arts flourished for awhile: thus the Mufes Left their Parnaus for the Latian plains: but, finding them over-run with tyrant power and coward vice, they difdained to fix their refidence there, and fought a refuge in England: happily they found it: the long reign of Edward III. was an era of glory; that of his unhappy fon was ftrongly marked with the high fpirit of liberty; in thofe times Chaucer lived and flourished, greatly favoured by both thofe kings. This juftifies the truth of Mr. Gray's pofition; his conclufion no friend to virtue and literature will controvert. "The first English poet here mentioned is Shakespear. What the critic fays of the mythological birth given him arifes from a mistake: Milton indeed has done this, where he calls him Fancy's Child: Mr. Gray fays nothing of his birth; he ftyles him Nature's Darling, and fays that the Mighty Mother unveiled her aweful face to him when a child; to fignify the glow of his imagination, fhe is reprefented as giving him a pencil; whofe colours richly paint the vernal year; and, to exprefs his power over the paffions, two golden keys, one of which unlocks the gates of joy, the other those of terror and pity: this is happily conceived, and expreffed with clear and elegant fimplicity. The feraphic fublimity of Milton is greatly characterifed. The car of Dryden, fays the critic, with his two courfers, has nothing in it peculiar; it is a car in which any other rider may be placed.❜ More judgement as well as candour had been fhown in pointing out the Pindaric imagery, and obferving that this car is borne wide over the fields of glory by Two couriers of ethereal race, With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-re founding pace. The mention of Dryden's Ode in honour of St. Cecilia's day is unnoticed: the richness of imagination, the felicity of expreffion, and the fweetness of numbers, with which that noble torrent of enthufiafm is celebrated, could not extort praife, but they ftrike cenfure dumb. The latter part of this concluding ftanza shows at least that Mr. Gray had the uncommon happiness to fpeak of himself with grace; but it is the province of the critic to place him in that high ftation in the realms of poetry which his own modesty would not allow him to affume." In feveral parts, however, of this extract, the reader will obferve that the Old Geth had gotten poffeffion of the author's imagination. The obfervations on the Bard, like5 wife, 1785. POTTER'S INQUIRIES INTO JOHNSON'S LIVES. wife, if we except a few touches of the Vandal, are conceived and delivered with fpirit and ability. But when Mr. Potter thinks to defend the length of Gray's ftanza, by telling us, that Pindar has many longer, we are, indeed, furprised. Falfe tafte, whether it proceed from imitation, or be original, is equally indefenfible. With the fame feeble argument does Mr. Potter defend bonied and buxom, because they are to be found in the writings of Milton. Mr. Potter endeavours, by the introduction of fome paffages from the Doctor's own writings, to confute his opinion of initial refemblances or alliterations. We muft, however, always confider them as feeble efforts to harmonize poetry, though the learned and ingénious Harris has defended them, and they have been used by the author of the second ode to Philoclea, where we find, Keen cuts the cold, with bitter biting hate, Mr. Gray's confeffion, that he borrows the weaving of the winding fheet from the Northern bards, does not render it lefs a theft, though Mr. Potter would perfuade us it does. He certainly would have made an excellent judge. A fecond Daniel! The thief who confeffed, would never be condemned for theft, when he prefided at the trial! We freely grant, however, that the word theft is a very harsh term, and much harfher than the fact feems to have deferved. We are then again teazed with the mention of Dictionary-makers, who, we are taught fuppofe, have not precifely fettled the meaning of warp and woof; but it is certain that Gray's ufage of thefe words is improper; and the idea of affigning the talk of weaving to the flaughtered bards, we must reprobate, whether it proceeded from miftake, or from the wild ideas of the bards of thofe times. The argument to the Bard is well written, but it was unneceffary. His defcription of Gray's language, which every production of Mr. Potter affures us chat he has ftudied deeply, and on LOND, MAG, Aug. 1783. 168 amore, fays, perhaps, too much. It fays it, however, well, and we tranfcribe it with pleasure. pure, peculiarly compact, and nervous, "The language of Gray is always ever appropriated to his fubject; when that is gay and fmiling his diction is elegant and glittering; in the fober grave and folemn; and it rifes with an reflections of faintly melancholy it is elevated dignity along with the boldeft flights of his fublime imagination; and his numbers, regulated by a fine tafte and a nice ear, have through all their various modulations a rich and copious harmony. Gray inherited the ample pinion of the Theban eagle, and fails with fupreme dominion through the azure deep of air; but he never fink's to that humiliating lownefs to which not want of genius, but the poverty of his fubject, often depreffes the Theban's fluttering pennons: he, therefore, has a claim to the highest rank in the realms of Lyric Poetry." He then tells us, that this teftimony. of his merit from the tranflator of Efchylus, who owes fo much to him is a debt of gratitude. Much indeed that this pamphlet will not be judged by he does owe him, but we are afraid, many a fufficient payment. were, perhaps, unjuft, and feveral of Some of Doctor Johnfon's cenfures them were too fevere. In answering moderation were neceffary.---The these objections the utmost coolness and Doctor's literary reputation is too firmly established to be eafily fhaken; and many inftances Mr. Potter has weakviolence fpends its force in vain. In ened the caufe he wifhed to defend; except the lives of Cowley and Savage, he fcarcely allows that there is any poet in the whole collection who receives the Biographer's commendations. which controvert fo miftaken a notion, examine the tranflation of the ninth Y article, 1 N the Addrefs to the Public, which was prefixed to the London Magazine for July, we promised to present our readers, occafionally, with papers on Medicine and Surgery. That promise fhall now be put in execution. We flatter ourselves that the importance of the fubjects, and the ingenious manner in which they are treated, will stamp no inconfiderable value on this department of the London Magazine. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON MAGAZINE, D URING the intenfe heat of the weather, I wrote the following obfervations, to be communicated to the public through the channel of your .mifcellany. If you approve them, and they should be found ferviceable to any of my fellow-creatures, who labour under this moft dreadful of diftempers, I fhall think my trouble well rewarded. I am, Sir, your's, &c. OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURE AND CURE OF THE THE HYDROPHOBIA, P. 'HE dread of water, with which I. That the disease arifes from irrithose that have been bitten by a tation, excited by the poifon, on the mad dog are feifed, proceeds not from nervous fyftem, the fymptoms that ata naufeous loathing of it, but from a tend it fufficiently fhew. Hence we confcious inability to make it pafs are taught, that the first curative ftep down the throat; it was, therefore, is, to leffen or remove this irritation; the opinion of Dr. Mead, that the dif- which is done by giving eafe fhould have been called a Dyfcatapofis, or difficulty of fwallowing liquids. The names of difeafes, however, ought to be expreffive rather of their fymptoms than of their causes; and for that reafon the ancient denomination fhould be retained. The means to be employed for the eure of Canine Madness are pointed out by I. The confideration of the nature of the difeafe. II. The appearances obferved on diffction, and III, The refult of experiments, 1. Such things as will deftroy the fenfibility of the nerves. 2. Such things as, by a specific virtue, will render the virus inert: and 3. Such things as will throw it out of the body. 1. With a view to deftroy nervous fenfibility, the more powerful fedatives have been often ufed. Of this clafs of medicines mufk and opium are doub:lefs the beft for this difeafe; and, of these two, we are to give the preference to the latter, Experience has proved, more than once, its fingular efficacy in cafes of this kind, and a further |